Week-End Special Part IV – The Eden!

Posted in Uncategorized by Rohan Shravan on October 9, 2010

Greetings everyone!

I could see the excitement in your comments, so here we are with a e really long post (1718 words)! (I was also going through them and realised that lots of us wanted to know more about the electronics, the processes involved and suggested we continue on the same lines along with adding UI parts, and in this post I will try to do the same)

This part will cover 3 things:

Understanding the Project (Product) (internal milestones and targets)(I have referred a paper from Dedrick Kraemer) (First part might be boring for a lot of people as it’s really long, though I’ve tried to shorten it);

The multi-tasking concept Adam is going to introduce; AND

The images from our Manufacturing House (Please note, I am still in India and will leave tomorrow night, so the current ones do not have that professional look, but enough to shut the mouth of lots of people calling us Vaporware. Once I am there I will share more!).

Projects on the scale at which we are working require huge knowledge networks, there are a lot of dependencies (% of production outsourced by Apple – 100%, Dell – 92%, HP – 100%, Acer – 100% 2005 data), involves tight Design and Development Processes, Production Phase and Co-ordination among the OEMs and ODMs across continents (Notion Ink is OEM and our Manufacturers are ODM). The scope of knowledge required in this industry is by far greater than any individual can master and hence you need a Knowledge Network to support and create competitive advantage and firms must tap into networks that cross national boundaries.

The key stage here is the Design and Development Process which follows this chain:

These phases take roughly a year for an entirely new product, and less for upgrades of existing platforms. Products stay in production for a year, and under warranty for 1-3 year. Entire knowledge work required is up-to 5 years!

In the Design Review: Design Manufacturability is determined; Working Mockup with its components and software drivers from the specified BOM; Attention to ME stability with functionality issues; Result is Hand-tooled chassis and working mock-up of the system that will boot, operate, but might not be stable (Our CES 2010 Sample). Prototype Build Stage: Chassis, MB, components, and software: together to build Integrated Physical System and Tested; Issues to Resolve: Heat, Power, Battery Life, Stress Tests like: running time, vibration, shock and pressure; Result: small production lot (50-100) commercial samples that represent a stable, reliable product for hands on review; Prototype Must pass reliability, quality criterion, fit for finish.

Pilot Production Stage(we are about to end this phase, waiting for FCC to hit the next stage): Preparation for mass production; Process designed and a pilot production line is set-up to produce around 500-1000 units to test the process itself; Test of the quality of units produced; Gate of this phase is PVT; Standards of quality, production time and out-of-box reliability must be met before Ramp-Up to mass production; Go decision taken by Manufacturing, Development and Project Management.

In the Mass Production Stage : Manufacturing Engineers to plan and manage Production Process Quality; Requires test facilities and quality engineers to improve the product and process; Over time. These engineers come to know the product extremely well and are best positioned to provide sustaining engineering. And finally the Sustaining Support – Stage: Deals with changes that occur because of introduction of a faster processor, failing or end-of-life components or improved components; Sustaining Engineers also provide the highest level of technical support when problems occur during use over the product’s 2-3 year warranty period.

This image will give you an idea of how Product development changes Countries over different stages:

I think that was a lot of reading! Lets switch now to the next topic. U and I!

We spoke last time how we are introducing a new kind of multi-tasking, a new architecture and to make use of these concepts a new User Interface.

When we started we want to crack few issues:

Multi-tasking in a way it should be;

Optimization on Memory while multi-tasking (there is no point with 100 screens open and no RAM to run any!)

Understand the psyche of the User of what exactly he wants from an application when he is multi-tasking

Create a unique method of window management and

Design for Touch

In a multi-tasking environment, a user is generally not completely focused on one application, but rather would be engaged in different notions in his mind. Hence there is a reduction of attention one has towards an application and hence the complexity of the work being performed. It is an extremely good approximation to suggest, that in a multi-tasking mode, user is not expecting very complex features to be made available, and would be rather happy with the “light mode” of the applications. In current scenario, all the application must be fully loaded to view even a part of it (say for example reading an email on outlook). If this is the case we can think of an architecture where the fully loaded application is made available when you are focused (like playing quake or creating complex excel sheets) and light mode (with the most important components made available specially communication) which is made available when you want to work on many things.

What we have done here is to create a new architecture in which the application will have 2 very important modes. First mode (Full Mode) is the normal mode in which we have used applications since the birth of the computers, but with a small change which assists the second mode (The Light Mode).

In the main architecture we divide the components in such a way that they can be used independently (this independence governs the extent of complexity which can be offered in the second mode). This is nothing different when compared with OOPS. So now application will have a MAIN class (just an example) which will control the complete application and the smaller components (which might be the features, data-base, networking components, UI elements, etc.). But the real magic happens in the second mode which we call “Light Mode”. In this mode the control is passed on to the Adam (with the strict architecture mentioned in the application). Adam decides which component to call, what to load, when to connect, what to read from memory and when to refresh. (The main reason for opting Android was, that it allows us to do this.)

Let me introduce The Eden.

Eden consists of panels or Light Application instances(side image is just an example). At any moment of time you can work on infinite applications. You will have 3 panels at your disposal and you can switch at any time, and the best part, irrespective of how many and which ever application you run in the panels, the main application is in deep sleep mode. Hence the over-all system is low on memory, extremely fast and optimized.

So now you control what to run, the whole application or panel (one thing to remember here is that in the full mode you get the full screen, so more components, features and more real estate). When you minimize, application calls a panel with the most important features and goes back to sleep (not deep sleep since you might need to call it back asap). (Example would be an email panel which allows you to read, send and refresh mail box, but to send “formatted email content” you need to call the main application).

Panels also allow you to now work on the application which currently exist on Android Market. Since they were made for mobiles, just enlarging (2x) them doesn’t make any sense. So now you can run them in a panel without any pixelation.

Using these concepts now you can compare two documents, transfer files from one folder to another, take notes from one panel and write in another, you can chat in one and read RSS in another, while third one is playing your song, read this blog and update your twitter message. Most important element in multi-tasking is to SEE two things to work on them, and now we have 3! (The composition is really very dynamic, and one application is not restricted to only 1 panel, one can open another and so on).

And you know the best thing! I havent shown you the UI yet, (as in how it looks). (In the video below you will get a very small glimpse of the Genesis’ Comic Store.

As I mentioned earlier I am leaving tomorrow night, so expect better images in couple of days. Here is what I have for today:

You can see that the plastic wraps are still there as at the base they are waiting for us to open them (I was expecting better images, but then they are not photographers) (I am as excited as you are to hold them!) Day after tomorrow (or tomorrow if possible), I will upload better images and more details. We have made 10 samples (for these post) with different color schemes so we can actually see which one looks best. I will try to upload all so we get a good idea of the texture, the Pantones that worked and the final finish. (People noticed the ADAM in caps, there was no time to change in this set of samples, were made after the popular demand of using adam in small letters. Will be updated in the next set of samples.)

I will get images from them and post it here .

Another announcement which LongBox digital did yesterday was about our collaboration with them. We are getting you the Comics with a very refreshing look and feel (and more content as they have to expand their reach to other publishers as well). And a lot many announcements are yet to come.

I am a big proponent of Adam. but I have a feeling that all these pieces of information is just a stalling. The UI of Adam is currently the last major problem. It shows me that Rohan is a perfectionist, but also that he is a young entrepreneur. Rohan I need an Adam, and Adam will not be your last project.

The partnership with Longbox Digital is a great move – speaking for myself, I’m waiting for an Adam over any other android phone/ereader specifically because I want a device that comics and graphic novels can be targeted towards well.

I am beginning to like your approach to multi-tasking. Given that we have seen two approaches to multi-tasking so far, 1) The windows approach, which had amazing multi-tasking freedom, but very poor control on what software or how the users operated the software, especially given the finite hardware capabilities. This often resulted in a frustrating user experience. and 2) The apple approach, where it seemed the only agenda was to avoid the windows like user frustration and hence multi-tasking was simply turned off!

I can see how you guys have approached this problem, by looking at how people would typically multi-task, and what people are looking to achieve when they want to multi-task applications on electronic devices and hence your staggered approach to multi-tasking, with two levels of hardware availability for the software depending on the software application’s demonstrated role either as a primary task or a backgrounded ‘other’ task. Yes, I think this is also intuitively how our conscious brain allots processing power when humans multi-task.

since u have succeeded in ur task i congratulate u foe this…any how i am looking forward for the adam india pricing…and not only that but i am very much keen to know that is it going to be upgraded to the upcoming android version 3.0 or gingerbreed…… i will be delighted if ur adam will have ur know market place along side the android market…

Can’t wait to lay my hands on the ADAM. Being an Indian company, could you divulge the pricing details of the ADAM in India? I need to manage my finances accordingly. My guess would be somewhere around 20k INR. Please don’t disappoint potential Indian buyers. ;)
Lovely post nevertheless.

no; infinite apps! the 2 apps are the ones one would actively ‘see’ to do their tasks… say, read from 1 and write on the other etc…

to explain further.. basically my interpretation of what Rohan said “When you minimize, application calls a panel with the most important features and goes back to sleep”

you can app1,2 then u open the 3rd; depending on your sequence of action(s) and on which app(1 Vs 2) you last acted on, one of them will go into the background to accommodate 3… and you can continue on like this forever, but for explaining lets say you are now at apps 8, 9 and you wanted that calculator app which was your app 3… and its just a click away on one of the background panels…

LOL; who says NI doesn’t think of customers! this has become so much of a community product already! I bet Rohan just has to ask and there will be thousands of volunteers to chip in with whatever we can…. and the great thing is Rohan actually believes and breathes and follows the theory of shared wisdom, knowledge networks and all…

this when MS, Apple and the like creates 1 little thing and claims perpetual rights on the entire domain forever milking customers and locking them to restricted services…
heck if only Bill, Steve realised what would have happened if Pencillin, electricity etc. were not made generic and some individual dictates how much we pay to get them, when and how….

very educating post.. and thanks for not disappointing us in terms of details, quality of details and quantity of details. people were counting seconds (as a matter of fact, milliseconds) for this post. Thanks a ton for this again..

questions:
1. Can we expect the touch screen performance like the apple products? though apple is not comparable in features, it is good at what it gives. the best touch screen experience. can we expect some thing like that in adam? you yourself in your earlier posts mentioned why apple succeeds in marketing in terms of quality of their products.
2. In the photos I see the logo of ‘adam’ in upper case letters. The lower case letters looked much cool and geeky. the upper case looks more formal. Can you please change the logo to earlier lower case like the one that comes at the end of the Longbox video?
3. The devices in the image look a little bulkier than the renderings you posted earlier. that might be because of the color scheme (white for borders). Black scheme always looks sleeker than white ones (this is just my opinion). Anyways, as you said by tomorrow, with different color schemes, it would be a lot clearer. Also, please place some object for size reference next to the photos you post tomorrow. It would be much helpful if there are different photos which highlight the sizes on each view (top, bottom, side, perspective etc..)
4. If possible post different individual shots rather than like the overlapping ones in this post. It would have been better if there were 5 different images rather than one overlapping the other.If you can, please upload the 5 photos in this post as separate images. people would be drooling over them till you post the final ones tomorrow. I bet every one would look at each the photo for atleast 15 minutes and find everything from them by zooming to the max possible and extract and imagine what they can.

Finally, though some may call adam vaporware but there are hundreds who look out for this product to be a grand success. I see most of the people encouraging and extending their help and suggestions whole heartedly and even some good guys are helping each other by clearing others’ doubts rather than waiting to get everything from you. Thats a bunch of really creative and wonderful fanclub you have here.

good catch; I suspect its all caps too….
Rohan, pleaseeeeeeeee its a popular demand we need the lowercase the ADAM is not in the same league as the cute lowercase adam version…. pllllllleeeeeeeassssssssseeeeeeee change it if its not too late… am guessing its just a last second process in the production line before its packaged; so am sure it can be changed now

Awesome, I had a doubt that the UI had been partially referenced in the Notion Ink website, turns out I was true. Also, it would’ve helped if the photos taken were without that cover. Nevertheless, thank you very much :)

Also, I’ve had an itching doubt about the Adam is that whether we would get a Gingerbread update down the line, and that might be difficult to pull of as, Genesis itself and all its apps would have to be Gingerbread-compliant. I’ve heard many good things about Gingerbread, hope we can reap the benefits of Google’s efforts too ! :D

Dear Rohan,
congratulations for adam! Very very impressive!!
You catched my eye one year ago when I discovered the adam and its hardware specifications (PixelQi in particular) while surfing for information to decide if the IPAD suits me or not (the answer was NOT).
Today I have realized that probably the most revolutionary and important part od adam will be the new multitasking approach and UI!! (I’m still trying to understand all the future implications of the new mutltitasking scenario…)
You can be sure that I will be present during the pre-order stage! ;-)
All the best,
Q (Italy/Spain)

also, if i understand correctly, the Adam uses some sort of internal logic to decide which are the core functions for each application. I would love to understand this logic :) could you please explain this bit a little more

Secondly, you mentioned that you can run Android apps in the panels, so this opens up everything on android market for the adam? I think this is a great thing

@crystal actually I was referring to the fact that 3 of us responded instantaneously to the question of multiple apps above … that put a smile on my face … sorry if it looked like I was laughing at your comment.

Wow the idea to display more apps at once is genius. I always wondered how you will display the android apps available in the market. However a fullscreen option would also make sense for some apps in the market, I guess :).

hey rohan!
10x for the update! I think you went a bit overboard with the first part, but the other two were great. you really like to tease us with the UI, don’t you?
hoping we’ll get to see more of it on the next update.
can’t wait the whole week to pass!!!
it would be great if you could post some images of the UI with the pics you’ll post of the product.

Hi Rohan, am a very great fan of your product. I work as a faculty in BBM in Vizag. I always discuss about Adam with my students. You dont believe how much they love it. Keep up with your regular updates and make a sooner way to get the Adam into our hands. Bye. SRIRAM

Great news, now i´m waiting the weekend specials every friday, it´s a very huge step from earlier days when we need to wait for months to get some adam news.

Now, for the next posts, please, speack about the SDK and how can developers interact with “Light Mode”. Can we set “hints” to adam to try to influence on what will be used in Ligth Mode? Or it´s completely up to adam? Or maybe we can define exactly what to show in Light Mode? A mix of both?…

Great update. I gather then that production has begun and the photographs were of the first adams on mass production. Right? (just making sure).

The reason I ask is that I am not certain if that is how this works. I know you’ve mentioned in the past that you will apply for FCC compliance in November. If you’ve begun production and FCC asks for some changes to the product, then how do you take that into account? I am sure you can still sell the products in locations that don’t need FCC (eg India). Just curious.

Separately, I read a couple of advertisements in the Times of India or Hindustan Times (Mumbai editions) last week about a company selling IT products which is looking for distributors in India. the advertisement said that the products are being launched in Diwali/ New Year. Was that you? I sure hope so as getting the adam in Diwali will be a real treat.

Frankly, I was hoping that we would get a hard release date in today’s blog post. I guess the major milestone you were talking about is the commencement of manufacturing. Right?

Sorry for all the questions but the more you post, the more questions we have!!!

another great post, thanks for all the information. The comic book store is just an amazing idea, the ui concept looks amazing.

I read somewhere here that there was supposed to be an announcement in these days, can you give us some more details? It would be good just to stop drooling at this page every half an hour waiting for some update (I am REALLY looking forward for this tablet :-D)

Very good developments indeed. Can’t wait till the final product is out. Looking at the interface this will really shine. Hopefully all scrolling will be silky smooth as on say the iPad. No other platform has been able to match the smoothniss of the OS even using a lot more powerfull hardware. Seeying this is fully OpenGL (and Android OS/browser is not) this would be a huge step forward! :D

Also great for us geeks that there will be an unlocked boot loader and booting using USB from what I heard. I am also a big Meego fan, and this might just be the tablet on which both would run brilliantly!

I have been reading every possible info about Adam, available on internet for about one year. Never posted any cooment because I am not a geek.
Rohan, your brainchild, Adam is truly a “genesis” which is going to in hands of people eagerly waiting its birth, as they know that gestation period is almost over. I read most of comments and feel as if all Adam lovers are in labour pain…..lol
Be quick in delivery………….don’t let them writhe with this labour pain.
I wish you and “Adam” all the best.

First and foremost, being an indian, i am proud of a start up company managing to turn everyone’s heads with something truly deserving. Adam (fittingly) is hopefully the start of many more revolutions from Notion Ink. The amazing difference between notion ink and other companies is the “U and I” part you mentioned in your post. You have managed to enthrall us, captivate our minds and thus forced us to be a part of your journey, making it “our journey”. Many problems still lay ahead, am confident “we” will be able to overcome them too, like the ones before.

Secondly i feel so connected to “adam” (notice the lower case? yes thats what we prefer, thx for listening to us, AGAIN!) and Notion Ink, am actually feeling maybe i should be a part of it officially i.e. Any job openings coming up at Notion ink ?? :D…. Maybe i can be a part of the next revolution? :P

Guys, those ads are not for ADAM, they are for a Mumbai based company who have their manufacturing unit in Cina and are plannng to manufacture the chinese tablets on a large scale and sell them i India. I guess they are not aware about the ADAM yet.

Are you saying that a user will be able to have 3 market app open at once?
Honestly that concept of using market apps like “widgets”? Just blew my mind awesome!

My questions are app development related.
When developing a light mode are the UI dimensions the same as an android app say 400X800? Does this mean the screen is around 1200×800? I have not heard anything related to the SDK/EAP although have an adam would be nice I would really like information about the screen sizes for light mode and full mode so I can work on a UI concept.

By the way have the 200 developers been picked for the EAP and when will the SDK be made available to everyone. My app is productivity based and it would be nice to be on the ground floor when the adam launches.

For now since it will be able to run market apps I can start there then make adjustments there.

have been going through the video again and again and again. I noticed that they used the genesis login and password to complete the purchase. This makes me ask the question as to what would be the payment options available through genesis? Are we talking about carrier based billing, a link to a paypal account, maybe even direct cc billing….. any answers for us Rohan?

I was always worried about how adam manages those Android Apps that aren’t prepared for Large High Density Displays, but you took my worries. Worst you could have done was copying the iPad-kind of behaviour (center the app on default and allow it to be zoomed by a certain factor).

The way I understood it, adam is now able to handle (show) three classic Android apps at a time, allowing unlimited numbers to be ready in the background, which just made my day.

Now, there are only two concerns left:
1.) (You could’ve guessed) german release date
2.) Touch screen and overall performance

As someone mentioned above, other manufacturers did an astonishingly good job in touch screen performance, while other devices are incredibly slow, having to wait up to half a second until the screen finally reacts. For adam, it shouldn’t be an issue as the Tegra seems quite fit for UI performance, but using Java (including the Android Garbage Collector of doom) naturally slows the system down a bit.

In other words: You’ve done a great job so far and I’m looking forward to both seeing a UI video and holding the adam in my very own hands. To me, there’s no doubt the adam will be an overall success when finally released.

You’ve made my day… I’ve been following your last few posts very closely and I must say, you did not disappoint. You’ve covered many questions I had from the day I read about the ADAM.

Quote: “Using these concepts now you can compare two documents, transfer files from one folder to another, take notes from one panel and write in another”… take notes?! Does that mean a proper stylus is available?!

^^ I’m so happy about this news… Now there also a video with the ADAM (ok, its short but hey, lets prove to others the ADAM isn’t vapourware!)

Very nice device. Waiting for long for this. I will still be waiting. Let us know how Europe will get deliver and how can we purshase and how can we have support if something fails…even if it is not possible. :)

Blog and hype are OK!!! But I am still not convinced if the features are going to make a hit with the users. Unless it makes a difference, the efforts by NI is going to be a waste. I would suggest NI to do the enough testing of both the UI and the usage pattern.

wow, congratulations, It really looks like you have moved the bar up quite a few notches. The tablets being displayed, and on the market, immediiatly become yesterdays technology. This is exactly why I have been waiting and why the Ipad was never a consideration.

BTW, Rohan what precautions are being taken to avoid plagiarism of this product from Chinese manufacturers? You might have heard of non-Apple iPhones and iPads being sold in China. Please protect your IP and designs. Be careful that the duplicates don’t turn up in the black market.

Simply put congratulations to the whole adam team! You are making a difference in many people’s lives in ways that you haven’t even imagined yet. I will take your article on the design / production process to my the Operations Management class that I teach. I think it’s the most updated, real world example that I have seen. Can’t wait for the pictures. Any word on when the device will be sent to FCC?

I really love the info about the multitasking. I am wondering how well i could use it for work? I’m a writer and I need something i can use on the go. I will buy the adam regardless but I am wondering if it will have some way of me editing and writing documents. Thanks again for the update. I am saving my dollars, can’t wait to buy.

Rohan
Great post Love the ideas and now the reality that you and company have come up with. The multi tasking makes a lot of since. it is going to make app development both easier and harder. on one side most apps will work just need to frame the panel to there native or largest supported size. on the other new way of thinking how a app can run in active mode with other apps.
I love that you are this close and hope that all the testing on the pilot units goes very well and with out major issues. I’m not going to say with no issues as we both know that never happens. but no major issues and maybe get it to the FCC even earlier than expected.
I can’t wait to see the Pics you take and the way the colors blend. I did want to through another possible color out there or maybe non color. CLEAR.

Looking at the first production ready pictures, I am not impressed with the looks. The tablet is looking too thick, as thick as a laptop i guess. the casing looks like a cheap metal with glossy paint on it. Glossy paint does not look good on electronic devices.

Woowww….I have been following the product since it was announced….great to know it is finally shaping up! As somebody has mentioned above, any better way to get updates, than keeping and watching the blog every hour ;)??

May be some guys can put up a facebook connect so that those who are in the official notion ink fan base can get a notification, perhaps? what say guys?

Anyway…great Rohan…appreciate your efforts to keep the community involved!!!
Can’t wait to get hold of one!
Regards – Jai

Congratulation Rohan for the achievement. Another great post. I was expecting more pictures but I take you on your promise to give us more when you get there. I hope there’ll be videos too.

With your comment “Pilot Production Stage(we are about to end this phase, waiting for FCC to hit the next stage)”, do you mean that the Adam has been submitted to FCC approval? If it’s the case, that’s another huge anouncement! congratulation for that too.

Having current Android Market app running in a panel at normal resolution is brillant so is having pannels in the first place (when you have the latter the former becomes obvious). Way to use Tegra 2 performances and Android native features! You are really redefining mobile computing.

I’ve never been so exited with an upcoming device before. Thank you for sharing this with us.

THANK YOU!
I dont know why so many people think that “multi tasking” is only fast application switching because it really isnt! There is no way that I would think of an iPad or any other Android Tablet (Galaxy Tab) now because this is the first to have real Multitasking. The native resolution is only a bonus and everything else just rocks! Can’t wait to get one of these myself.
-Toby

I am very much intrigued with your overall approach from day 1. I sincerely hope Adam to be a resounding success because then history will look at your ‘Inception’ post as the dawn of a new era in product development and global marketing.

Looking forward to better pictures and videos. If you pull the wool, you better pull it in grandly else you run the risk of tempering enthusiasm.

Really glad to hear you guys are teaming up with LongBox. I just recently downloaded their beta version for my laptop and I am impressed. I’m also excited about LongBox’s comments on their website:

“Yes, a generic Android version of LongBox Digital, as well as a iOS version for iPhone and iPad will be released shortly after the launch of the ADAM tablet. We’re confident that the experience of LongBox on the ADAM is a superior one, but we also strongly believe that you cannot dictate to people how, or on what device, they consume their entertainment media.”

I’m curious what makes the Adam LongBox version superior. Hopefully I’ll soon be able to find out. I’m currently deployed in Iraq and being able to use your tablet to read comics on convoys and Helo rides would be great. Have you guys been developing any cases to go with it? My ruck sack isn’t the best for electronics. PS I love the titanium grey color.

Kewl !!!!!!!!
Please do post any new images, videos soon. Can’t wait.
Can you give us any info about the keyboard UI/software? Any support for multi-language keyboards? Hindi, mandarin…. .
Are any accessories in the making?

I am seeing da future.Notion ink outselling Ipads and what an improvement from the one tha was showed back on january and now….really amazing…What an UI…I am a power user of Android and i feel UI is the deciding factor in the Android.Nothing can be compared.Galaxy tab or blackberrys playpad or Sharps Tablet or even the Toshiba…This UI is different and i jus say one thing Notion ink will be the next Apple of India or I better say to the world….
Mr.Rohan Shravan,Thanks for a beautiful device at awesome specs at an awesome price.

Please maintain the good hardware quality and none can beat u.
Thank u

Also, will we developers be able to access the important APIs to make our apps optimized to perform goto sleep with only important functions running and to quick wakeup? Or is that limited to apps that come from notion ink and partners alone?
I can see use for your approach to multi-tasking.

When did the bezel become so chunky? All the pictures and prototypes we’ve seen so far seemed to really downplay it, setting the Adam apart from other tablets not just in terms of hardware or software but also aesthetically. While I’m very excited to see actual manufactured product, this is the least svelte iteration I think we’ve seen… maybe just bad angles in the photos? I hope so. :-/

The Pixel Qi screen used is an innovative 10.1” TFT Liquid Crystal Display with LED backlight which supports 1024×600 mode and can display 262,144 colors in the transmissive mode. The screen also uses any roomlight or sunlight available to support two low power modes: a transflective mode where the backlight stays and any roomlight adds to the screen brightness, and a pure reflective mode that is black and white (with 64 grayscales) which is bright and clear even in direct sunlight. This technology enables subpixel rendering, standard now with most operating systems, and higher actual (native) resolution (3072×600) for very crisp text.

Very interesting post as I am still analyzing it…. I would like to point out that THERE IS NOTHING INFINITE in computers. Everything is finite (no matter what … this is the basic principle we learned in computer science). What Rohan means is probably fairly large number of applications!!

Awesome! Great post. We appreciate you for sharing the knowledge base and work flow. Everything will depend on how smooth the user experience is going to be. Two things – 1. Let us know when you get FCCs approval. and 2) Have you finalized the pricing.

What a fantastic post. I am more than impressed with the thinking designing planning and it increases my expectations and hopes for the final product.

Are you not worried about sharing the deep design theories and planning systems? This level of thinking, and the mistakes you avoided in your design phase, apparently with great sucssess, is the kind of thing that many companies keep secret.

Wow open sourcing design planning and business model.

I am VERY impressed, I want an Adam more than ever, not just because I can see the fantastic choices made, the clever planning, the commitment to the end user, but because i want to support a group that does such fine work, for us, the end users.

Many congratulations, very nice post and all the very best for FCC clearance. It certainly takes huge effort to bring one product into reality from conceptualization. Would you be coming to US before FCC or before release? Can “The ADAM Fan-club” meet you in person? We can plan it in advance and have a gala.

Pics are too small.. Until more pictures arrive cant speculate or comment…

I have been putting off buying the ipad for over four months now… Will definitely buy the adam.. Although i do not like the delay in launching.. i know the notion ink people have put in a lot of effort to bring customizations and stuff, i hope the delay hasn’t cost this tablet dearly… Apple’s IPAD is expected to sell around 11 million this year.. Thats mass hysteria.. To catch up to that is a herculean task.. Still hopeful that this one will be the best of the lot and worth the wait…

Good work shravan…

I do have some suggestions though..

1. More marketing for the product once it gets the fcc approval. I mean loads of advertisements on the net.. nerds like us get it that the adam is the best.. but the layman also need to understand this.. To the noobs pixel qi, design, multi tasking etc are no match.. All they care is the user experience and i hope u can revolve ur marketing campaign around this..

i have followed you guys for almost a year now and i can only say great thing about what the adam has become. but do you know yet if we in the US can expect this by christmas or is we have to wait for Q1 2011?

Remember the videos of the adam from slashgear around Jan/Feb when using the adam people were always saying how responsive the screen was. I don’t think that responsiveness will be an issue in the adam.
Waiting for release – Canada

Thanks for the interesting articles! Sharing so much information about the Adam is a very refreshing approach. I do wonder whether you are not giving away too much information before the actual launch as competitors will also be making regular visits to your website and blog.

I cannot wait to see the actual pictures of the Adam as it is high on my list of possible tablet purchases.

Rohan,
I posted several months back where I was critical of your blog posts and the lack of actual information contained in them and how they were causing me to lose interest in Adam. Having come back now to your blog to see if things have changed, I have to tell you that you have my attention back with your communications and progress.
Best wishes in the lead up to release.
-JT

hi rohan i really like your project. i just hope u guys implement a powerful handwriting device for this tablet, its the most important thing for me, i am a student, taking and sharing a lot of notes or sketches in my daily scientific work. tablet pcs are just too bulky and limited in mobility for me. with the hdmi output it would be able, to do really intuitive presentations…

I have been following adam for a very long time. Does anybody remember when, near the beginning NI said that the adam would be preloaded with some nVidea games? I think that quake may be one of them. “(like playing QUAKE or creating complex excel sheets)” I think that it would be great to see quake on a tablet! That would open the doors for other developers to make some tablet oriented FPS games.

First, i love the three panels. Solves multitasking in many way. but the only two lingering questions i have are:

1. Can i expand an mobile app to cover 2/3 of the screen or use 2 of the 3 panels. Like for instance use 2/3 of the screen to do word processing/pdf viewing and use 1/3 of the screen to keep an eye on the stock market?

2. I think my BIGGEST (and i mean critical deciding factor) concern is, will ‘adam’ have access to Android Market? i think you hinted in the post, but i want to make sure.

All BS, no product. No release date. Are you really serious about releasing ADAM this year? If not just say it, cant wait for eternity to buy this product. Looks like need to find something else that I can actually buy and use.

I honestly don’t get all the hoopla with the whole market question. Yes it makes it easier to load some apps but I have been into Android for year and half and my current EVO is at 60-40. That is 60% of the apps are side loaded. I have friends (not technical) that are in the 20-80. So Google locks the market down from Tablets there are easy ways to get apps on. there are many market alternatives out there and more coming (Amazon) All this and and I didn’t even mention Genius. Which I am involved in prepping 5 apps for (plug plug).

Hi,
Nice to read these articles, I am regular user but never posted any comment. After seeing the details of multi tasking I could not resist to appreciate. I am a programmer as well and i can see that the concept is really good. wish you all the best, I will be the among first ones to buy this whenever it is released :) I hope i can buy it in France.

I have been following the emergence of this product and can’t wait to preorder. God speed to market. As you said this was for people who said the product was vaporware. Keep moving forward ADAM sounds better and better as the updates keep coming thru.

As always it was really nice to wake up to find an update on the blog. Honestly I was expecting more pictures and maybe a video (Other than the one from the comic store) but it was a really nice surprise after all.

Thanks for the information about the UI, is great to know what was that picture displayed on NotionInk.in at the “Design” section, I thought it was like the “Home” screen or something, but it is really nice to know that it is EDEN, and all the features that will provide to us.

I won’t repost any of the questions already asked here, but I hope that you are checking them out to get ideas for a future Forum, Video presentations, FAQs, etc.

I’m looking forward for a preorder option and of course to have the adam on my hands, but at least we are really encouraged (by the Official announcement from LongBox) with the tentative “Holiday Season” release.

Keep up the great work NI! and keep sharing information as soon as posible ;)

@ Josh. Indeed, Google said that Android 2.2 was not optimized for Tablet usage, but being an Open-Source Google shouldn’t be able to forbid entirely its usage. What google is doing is restricting the access to their Android Market, but anyways the adam will have Genesis to help us out, and as hinted on today’s update maybe adam will have some access to the apps from the Market as well

As everyone here in this blog… i am following adam for 1 year.. i was bit surprised to see the pictures are different from the video where you mentioned look and feel of the device would be similar to what was shown in the below video..

I find the bezel is bit bigger in the pictures you posted…
Were there any changes in the design(bezel) in order to make sure ppl can hold the device without touching the actual screen… The bezel is bigger in the “LongBox digital” announcement pic aswell but adam looks much better in the LongBox digital ad..

I, as well as other, are very excited for the launch of the adam. I hope your most patient supporters can be rewarded by preordering when the time is right. I would love to be one of the first to show off this tablet!

its amazing to me that the multitasking panels page was up on the adam website for a month now (when you click the design button) and despite the fact that it says “change panel” and has different tabs, like facebook and twitter, none of us figure out that that was the multitasking window.

I have to say, the whole idea of “Panels” is just brilliant! I truly love it, and where I have been frustrated waiting for your product, I am truly looking forward to it now. Keep up the good work and the good fight!

Right no product, just ignore the photos of the finished product in plastic packaging(and promises of better pictures taken by rohan within the next 2 days). No release date, just FCC testing first week of november or possibly late october(Notion Ink should be able to predict exactly when FCC testing will be done right?). They’re ready to roll for manufacturing as soon as FCC testing is done so we can assume very soon after they pass.

Its ok to go after a different product but please do be sure of the reasons for why before you call Notion Ink “All BS”. Wish you luck with ipad, archos or apad.

I did Just wanted to let you guys figure it out yea really. No I agree as soon as I read it i jumped to that page and said well crap there it is. We should have seen that Wonder what else Rohan has hidden in there.

well the answer is Rohan is kidding all of us who are in blind alley; yeah what’s the big deal if you paid all your lives earnings to NI by waiting till eternity you already answered your question… so not even worth coming here and commenting…. I think the iEgo 4 & iDumb 100 and iWhatever are all being minted in millions as we speak and you can buy them to your heart’s content…. Ahem!

My understanding is that this image is just a concept picture to explain the design. The final screen is certainly not going to look like this (I hope not). It wouldn’t make sense to keep 6 panels on screen when only 3 are supposed to be active anyway.

Must say the pics were a bit of a disappointment but I am very excited for the adam to be released. I just hope it is before Christmas! I really hope you can do individual pics and reconfirm dimensions of the product and a video showing the UI is essential! Great job and thanks for keeping us posted!

Just subscribe to the site by email. I also clicked to notify of follow-up comments via email. So any new posts to this thread are emailed. And by subscribing to the site you get an email when Rohan starts a new thread.

Hi
Very very happy to see this post, I am visiting China at the moment ,just tell me where the factory is and I will go there and give you a full appraisal of this wonderful device,please please ship one to me in Ireland.
Well done to all

We haven’t really heard anything about any individual app recently except for Longbox (and that in part because Longbox Digital made an announcement). If the office suite has as much attention to detail as the rest of what we’ve seen I’ll be quite happy with it I’m guessing.

How can you say that and suggest pictures pasted on the face? Wouldn’t it be easier to press a button through the plastic than to magically make a picture appear inside and then paste it? Plus, if they managed to get it working through the thin plastic it would mean a sensitive touchscreen which is a very good thing. Then again pictures could be part of the production but they’d be the same picture.

From what I understand any app can go into full mode by going full-screen and then it goes into light mode when you switch to panel view. It makes sense: if you’re viewing other apps at the same time you don’t want/need all the functions. Even if you’re only copying some text to copy into the main app at that moment you’re not making full use of said main app. Then when you go back and want to do more stuff you make it full screen again. Full screen is conducive to full mode because as Rohan mentioned, you get more screen real estate meaning more options/buttons can be displayed as well as more work space. But as far as I can tell even if you’re in full mode the other panels keep on running in light mode in the background (though I could be wrong). What you definitely can’t have is two full-mode apps, which makes sense as you’ll not be making fine detailed adjustments to two things at once. And as Rohan said, when you go out of full mode the majority of the application goes into a nice light “nap” kind of sleep, not deep sleep so you can quickly switch back to full mode without any problem.

I had actually noticed and guessed it might be something of the sort as it reminded me of the “windows button+Tab” on Vista and Windows 7 but not just eye candy, actually functional. But I didn’t know the exact implementation or if it was one of their conceptual designs which wouldn’t make it in the final cut. And like Janus-x says, based on what Rohan said I think it’s just a preliminary sample and not the final thing.

Also at least one site (Technoholik) pointed out it might be part of the famous new UI when they put up the page.

I have to say I enjoyed the post. Always wanted to be able to call on the basic functions of an app without having to wait for the whole thing to load when I only wanted some tiny thing done. I hope you implement something like this too on your web browser if it has tabs (which I suppose it does). Right now on my lap it gets bogged down if I am doing research and have more than 40 tabs open. Ended up adding the no-script plug-in for firefox but it’s still not a total fix.

Love your Eden (nice to see I was right about the name). And honestly the post didn’t seem that long (then again as a Lit major reading is my thing, one reason I want the Adam).

Can’t wait for more pics (hopefully where we see all the different pantones in real life). Lots of luck Rohan and co.

Further to that, and regarding earlier comments about the “infinite” apps, the following intro videos about android architecture show that it is “theoretically possible” to have infinite apps, but we all know that nobody owns and infinite number of apps, its just that the number of apps is not as limited in other OS.

@Clay
@Raju
@Phillip
Chill it guys! :-) better use something thats on market than get excited about a mythical device that exist in blogs.
Anyways frustration aside, I would love to pre-order/own adam as much as anyone else. Go NI/ go India.

What happened to the bezel, why is it suddenly that phat. Makes the whole baby look hhmm “un-sleek”, hope they change it before final production.
For me it´s a real bummer in an otherwise perfect device.

Some guys are pointing out towards an increase in the thickness of the adam.
Well i think, its still 14 mm as given in the spec sheet. if u see the 2nd picture (clockwise direction) of the real adam, u can probably find the 3rd slot as the full USB key (Rohan mentioned in his post that they did not tweak anything and its the standard USB configuration). The size will be around 6.5 mm and if we little bit do some calibration from the picture you will find that the total size is twice or 2.2 times the size of USB slot, which comes out to be around 14 mm.(there may be 5% error) (ipad is 13.4 mm for reference). So dont worry too much on that. Just two boundaries should be of different color from the valley on which the USB slot lies, it will make it look much thinner.

If i understand properly, the Bezel people are talking about also should be there. as someone pointed out before that u need some place to put your thumb on the screen (think how to hold it). Actually i was wondering before if there is no bezel then how to hold it (in landscape mode). also it may be very helpful for our left handed friends.
Now the question is what is the bezel depth/length. if i have calculated it correctly (i have taken into account the dimension as mentioned in the NI spec website and the number of pixels as 1024 by 600, 118 ppi, to find the actual screen size) , the bezel length (in landscape mode)(which i assume is equal on both sides) on each side is around 9 mm. and bezel length on top and bottom side are unequal (due to camera) and bottom side length looks to be around same 9 mm (from the picture 1st) and so it leaves around 20 mm on the top side. ipad bezel on each side is around 21 mm (if i am not wrong). So u see it is still ok, if not little less. even if the dimensions as mentioned in the spec sheet are a bit here and there, i think adam is in good shape.

Another thing i want to ask Rohan is, can we use all the functionalities of for example a mobile android market app in Panel mode (i assume that mobile app has less features and less complicated). if not then when i want to use in full screen mode (full functionality), how it will resize/scale itself, and if it needs any tweaking for adam , other than UI small change. I think in your last post you were talking about small but crucial change in app use. Can you throw some light on it too.

THANKS Rohan for your efforts to make ADAM ( or adam :) ) and deliver with all those promises u made
My this comment is only focusing on COMICS APP( I’m big comics lover and hope u also read NAGRAJ ,CACHA CHOUDHARY ETC Indian comics in your child hood)

On interface: after seeing video and using LONGBOX on my laptop I felt that we still need something MORE to make Comics reading enjoyable on Adam ( though I agree I haven’t seen the FINAL version as I haven’t got MY ADAM :) ).So please consider this suggestions
1.CAN we make comics reading FRAME BY FRAME ,that’s how we read comics Is n’t ?
2. while moving /touching/hovering finger on dialogue box CAN it be ZOOMED
3.AUTO MODE frame by frame running like slide show with dialogue box popping up slightly .
4. CAN we have country SPECIFIC Comics app too(along with others comics) say in INDIA RAJ COMICS etc.

5.Can GENESIS provide ” COMICS_LIBRARY”( can be extended to EBOOKS too ) where user can share/exchange their comics with other users ( of course I’m not saying to create a place for piracy but at least legally bought books from GENESIS store can be shared.Thats what we have done in childhood with our friends, Exchanging comics to read more comics .
this kind of efforts will be a giant leap towards FREE and open platform
hope to listen some of your thoughts on these points.
wishing you happy journey.:)

posting it again!!
THANKS Rohan for your efforts to make ADAM ( or adam :) ) and deliver with all those promises u made
My this comment is only focusing on COMICS APP( I’m big comics lover and hope u also read NAGRAJ ,CACHA CHOUDHARY ETC Indian comics in your child hood)

On interface: after seeing video and using LONGBOX on my laptop I felt that we still need something MORE to make Comics reading enjoyable on Adam ( though I agree I haven’t seen the FINAL version as I haven’t got MY ADAM :) ).So please consider this suggestions
1.CAN we make comics reading FRAME BY FRAME ,that’s how we read comics Is n’t ?
2. while moving /touching/hovering finger on dialogue box CAN it be ZOOMED
3.AUTO MODE frame by frame running like slide show with dialogue box popping up slightly .
4. CAN we have country SPECIFIC Comics app too(along with others comics) say in INDIA RAJ COMICS etc.

5.Can GENESIS provide ” COMICS_LIBRARY”( can be extended to EBOOKS too ) where user can share/exchange their comics with other users ( of course I’m not saying to create a place for piracy but at least legally bought books from GENESIS store can be shared.Thats what we have done in childhood with our friends, Exchanging comics to read more comics .
this kind of efforts will be a giant leap towards FREE and open platform
hope to listen some of your thoughts on these points.
wishing you happy journey. :)

hey rohan,
lookin forward for more pictures and videos. Today i saw the old video where you gave your interview to Times now(Technoholik),as the latest pictures are not very clear.When i see the actual video the feel is entirely different…….dude please make a video describing what u can do with this device…..should knock off every one……..no one should have doubts regarding its capability…..we have already seen lot of tablets. By this time you will be knowing what they lack and in your video you can really press on these things (coz i believe adam has everytin to take on other tablets).
I recently bought an ipod 4G.one thing that knocked me off was the touch screen, best i have experienced till now. Now when i use my samsung jet ,it literally sucks…..i find it difficult to use .2nd thing that caught my attention was the camera. Though it was VGA, in bright light if i take a pic its really good,considering its pixel.So apple might have used some software to enhance the picture quality.Then what really impressed me was the HD video recording just with the VGA camera.
Whole point in writing this is that i want the video recordin in our notion ink camera to also be HD (dnt know whether the feature is already there). It makes lot of difference .I am not really an apple fan……but this is one of their better device in terms of things they have included in it……but again they skipped the GPS which was another possibility……..you must make our adam stand out in all respects……with prayers
Ajesh

I like your point 2 but that would require programming or the comics would have to be developed through a special program(comics engine?) where all the content would have to be placed in a proper place although it would be a big leap, but someone would have to develop that easy to use engine.
If programmers of notion ink are free they can do it and enjoy the advantage of being first in the field, but it all depend on how well people receive it.
As for the sharing part, I know sharing is caring but that unfortunately kills the company’s who works hard on producing the content, so people shouldn’t pirate stuff as long as they have other options.

Hey just a quick question Rohan, the 3G version will it use a normal simcard like a phone and you can just get a normal prepaid simcard with a data plan, or will it be like apple and used those annoying micro simcards?

Would be great if it was just a normal sim as then i could just by a prepaid one and top up with data as i need it =D

Also loving the whole concept of multitasking! I have been so into all the adam mania that the other day i spent about 2 hours trying to find dimensions to make a quick model and see how big the screen is. It looks really small if my model was correct. My next task once i finish my maths test this week is to get the CAD program out and make a 3D model of it. Is the 14mm thickness at the rounded end of the adam or in the main panel section? if it is at the rounded end how thick is the main flat bit?

Thanks heaps Rohan, hope to hear soon and looking forward to buying an adam in Australia. (sorry about the medal tally at the games :P, you do have us in the cricket though!)

hello there , normally i am not posting coz i love reading the post of other people in order to get answers to my question.
however some things are not clear, all the technical details seems to be really impressive and it leading to the conclusion that Adam will be a great devise ( a bit bigger than i original through but anyway), however the main question is reaming, and is WHEN ADAM will be on the market ??? once we read June or Julie and some time ago we hear about middle of November , so i am a bit confused coz i really need a table pc or either Ipad and i am holding my breath for Adam but for how long still we have to wait?

What I am looking for in Adam is a power efficient tablet with sunlight readable screen and swivel camera. I am not looking for yet another custom created interface. I just want something that works. What I really hate is when network operators etc try to make some “creative and fun” interface on top of something else and it ends up looking like a Mickey Mouse interface with animations and effects that are fun to play with for two days and then get wind up being just annoying and make using the device inefficient. I really hope Adam will not go that route. But seeing what everyone else does I fear Adam will do the same. That is why I am so interested in knowing if I can install Ubuntu instead. I want the flexibility to choose by myself what OS to run on my tablet.

Excellent post. It is refreshing to see a company provide this kind of detail about their development process for those of us who are interested. The details in the post have made me think this will surpass the competition and you guys are doing an amazing job.

The multitasking idea is genius and similar to the “widget” idea instead you have panels which display critical information with reduced functionality. The key here in my opinion would be to avoid information overload but ofcourse the user can focus on what is important to them at that time.

As always keep the updates coming! they are the only thing keeping us hooked!

Based on some simple calculations, his stated Golden Ration & 3 degree angle, it seems to me that the 14 mm must be the thickness of the main section. If this is the case, then the thickness at the rounded end would be approximately 22.6 mm. Of course, this is pure speculation based on some elementary trigonometry.

Hey there, as i am very very very eager in buying a tablet. I am still looking around for one. I was planning on buying a budget tablet nationite (around 100 euro) and upgrade to a Notionink.

Now I’m in some kind of dillema, on Nov 1st, there will be a teblet coming out in the UK (the advent Vega) almost the same specs but ofcourse lesse features than the NOtionink. The price will also be low (around 300 euro).

Hello Rohan,
Can you tell us what to expect for support and service after the Adam is launched? What happens if I buy an Adam and it needs repair for whatever reason?
Will there be (free) online support for questions and to solve issues?
What about upgrades to future Android versions (3.0 Gingerbread and beyond)?
Very important questions which need an answer!
Looking forward to hearing from you.

As Rohan said in this post “Pilot Production Stage(we are about to end this phase, waiting for FCC to hit the next stage)”. In other words, once they get FCC approval, they shall start mass production and sales. Selling it without FCC approval would be illegal in the US and as the US is the launch country we have to wait. It was never said November exactly. What was said that hopefully November, latest January (FCC approval ranges from 2 to 6 weeks and they didn’t know how long they’d take to finish the sample production or how they don’t know how long the FCC will take.) But they have mentioned that they are ahead of schedule, so a November/December launch is looking better than a January one. The important thing is… it’s almost here :)

In the photos, the Adam looks thicker than the renders and illustrations. Also you said that there will be 10 samples. We have 9 currently in the poll. The Adam showing in your photo seems to have an all-silver or all-white edges color scheme. I would assume this is the 10th sample? I’m looking forward to the new samples and I hope the finish is in brushed metallic or satin, not fingerprint magnet glossy and plastic looking. Oh…are we coming out with 5 colors? Do let us know!

Hi,
just in case I missed it already:
Anyone who knows already something about the capacitive Pixel Qi display..is it “wide-view” or not?
While reading the specs on the website about “outfitted with the latest Pixel Qi screen..” I hope we will get more good news, Rohan?. ;-)
Joe

Is the screen size still the same as the earlier prototypes?? It seems there is a bigger border around the edges now. Hopefully we will get the official specs soon.
At the moment there are so many unknowns with the adam.On paper it looks fantastic and i really hope it turns out to, but there are so many unknowns that could make or break it.
I hope the new photos Rohan puts up can dispel some of my fears! i.e that it definitely looks THICKER now and the screen dimensions look smaller.

Well, no matter what the screen HAS to be 10″. Unless Notion Ink decided to ditch PixelQi which only comes in one size for now: ten inches. If it came out late next year it’d possibly have the new PixelQi screen size of seven inches will be available.

I really doubt Notion Ink would ditch the PQ screen as it has been one of their main selling points and a great differentiator for them (there are various other tablets scheduled to come out with the Tegra2). The other differentiator for the Adam (aside from physical design) is the interface. And as they’ve mentioned that they’ve made design choices to take advantage of the high contrast aspects of the PQ screen, meaning they wouldn’t change the screen and that the size is the same.

BTW. It may LOOK chubby, but I did some measuring (basing the measurements off the dimensions on the notionink.in site) and the length&width are almost the exact length of one of my books (the length is 2mm longer than the book) and the exact depth at the battery level is the same as a book. Holding the book and then measuring out the pages for 14mm for the other part and I realized it is a VERY comfortable size. The main body is almost the same thickness as the ipad (less than 1 mm difference) and the battery personally seems a great thickness for a “handle”.

Looks beautiful, thanks for the further insight into the product development cycle and the UI. I think the cycle information just helps your future consumers realize why it’s taken this long to get it to the shelf. Can’t wait till it’s in my hands though!

Any word on small blogs being able to review it hands on before the Adam is released? I write for a very small blog that has just gotten smaller since we moved off of wordpress, so we are in grave need of steady viewers and subscribers. The only thing that can give us that is testing products before they are available. We are currently trying to get our hands on HTC products because their US headquarters is only matter of minutes away. Without a steady stream of viewers our site may go under, and our 800$ investment will be lost. That is an incredible amount for unemployed sophomores in high school, which is what our writers are. We have three of them, including me, the co founder. I was the second one to start writing for the site after finding info in the EVO 4G and the owner of the blog had no idea of it.

We used to have 70-80 views a day with our wordpress site because it was indexed by google and bing, but since our new site isn’t there yet we are peaking at 40 and having about 10-20 views a day. If we were to review the Notion Ink hands on before some large megasite did, we would recover our deficit of viewers and get the ball rolling, and in the future we hope to open a .ca and a .au site. But first we must get a viewer base.

May I also add that all three of us are going to buy a Notion Ink once it is available, and I would most certainly be at a midnight release of some sort if you are selling in with Best Buy or RadioShack or some chain similar.

I was hoping to see longbox n the e-ink mode but wow, I can’t wait for this. I’m a huge comic book reader and have been using a tablet to move role playing game books to games. I need this device, I need it to be as open as possible and I need it now!

I wish some major blogs would talk more about the Adam. Slashgear is really the only one that gives you some attention. In this post alone, you basically proved that is not vaporware (partnership with longbox), revealed that you will support the marketplace, and showed off a new method of multitasking (something that no other tablet has really done well). Yet, you get little to no attention aside from viewers of this blog. It’s a shame.

I have only seen two tablet pc I ever wanted. The ADAM is the first & the KNO tablet is second. Both are the best for their purpose. ADAM being personal and KNO being more education/professional. I’m looking forward to both tablets destroying the IPAD! Beware of the PLAYBOOK from RIM, pretty smart to sync to your blackberry for ease of use.

Hi Rohan, in the photos, the Adam looks thicker than the renders and illustrations. Also you said that there will be 10 samples. We have 9 currently in the poll. The Adam showing in your photo seems to have an all-silver or all-white edges color scheme. I would assume this is the 10th sample? I’m looking forward to the new samples and I hope the finish is in brushed metallic or satin, not fingerprint magnet glossy and plastic looking. Oh…are we coming out with 5 colors? Do let us know!

Thank you so much for sharing information with us and for caring about our concerns as we receive it. I was thrilled about the new multi tasking information you presented, it truly makes more sense than any other system available currently. I was curious though, are regular programs other than applications also able to be viewed and worked with in the light mode. So basically could you have the email just received in a column and the web browser in another column with the gps running to find the address given in the email in the last column. Or is this a feature for applications only not full scale programs. I am very excited about the Adam and have been for quite some time. Thank you for the wonderful product and new approach to innovation.

from the article:
“The partnership places the LongBox Digital Platform as the exclusive pre-installed service for purchasing, cataloguing and reading digital comics on all four of Notion Ink’s announced tablets”
…four? adam, eve, and…? maybe they mean adam2 & eve2, if they will exist, but – announced? updated: they mean four models by price, probably.

“…as well as any other tablets or portable devices utilizing Notion Ink’s Genesis system over the next two years.”
Hello to NotionInk cell phone?

“A large part of that is the Pixel Qi screen, which is a dual mode screen that works like ePaper (but with full color, at 1080p, at 30fps)”
1080p != 1024×600, but yes, in e-ink mode horizontal subpixels can be used(I doubt that Android and Tegra2 can use this, though) tripling horizontal resolution.

“ADAM will be coming out by Xmas… there are four models and the most expensive one is less expensive than the cheapest iPad.”
oh, so “announced” = adam + lcd is one, PixelQi is two, wifi is three, 3g – four…? Either way they mean “four tablets” as “four different products by price”, I guess, k.

“Version 1.2 will be released with the ADAM tablet around the holidays, and we’ve got a couple of killer features lined up for that release, with the iPad, iPhone, and generic Android versions being available 30-60 days after the release of the tablet.”
…what? “will be released with the ADAM tablet around the holidays”?

Any ideas which carrier would be associated with the 3G networking in the US yet? I feel like Verizon is the monopoly (i.e. money driven) here and won’t support the user driven approach it seems like NI wants to foster.

I’ve been like a little girl waiting for Christmas with butterflies in my stomach every time you give us the good info like about Eden! It has been so refreshing to have someone be so open and detailed about a product that is not just geared toward a marketing angle. Thank you for that!

Usually I try to wait out all initial hype to get through buggy phases, but I may just have to give in and preorder when available! The way NI seems to want to please, I’m sure the (future) customer support will be able to handle whatever is thrown at them.

Best wishes for an expedited FCC approval and bravo for listening to us! I hope you are the beginning of a new consumer revolution – for the people, by the people!

congrats on reaching this incredible milestone. i am sure this device will turn a lot of heads and draw a lot of people from apple. I can’t wait for mass production and will be eager to preorder when it releases.

Some capacitive screens can function through thin layers of plastic (the really good ones) though maybe not as responsive as they may otherwise be. Think of some of the newer touchpads on some notebooks. Some of them are part of the chassis, same plastic and everything and still work (I have an acer aspire 6530 with said design which works even with wet fingers, something that not all touchpads do). Also as there is most likely a power button that could easily be pressed through the plastic. The picture is small so it’s hard to tell. It could be pasted pics or it could be the actual screen showing something. Somehow I doubt the factory bothered to print out individual screen images for each sample. After all, that kind of image is used when trying to sell a product and the manufacturer is sending it to Notion Ink. I think Notion Ink is already sold on the product, kind of a preaching to the choir sitch ;)

hope it is not too late, but apart from taking pictures of all the color options of adam, can u take also a 360 view of a single adam (1 color adam is ok). Please put some reference (like pencil/pen, whatever available in the factory) near to the adam (of course 1 case is ok). this is to reduce unnecessary comments about size, bezel etc.

Also if it is allowed, can you show us 1 picture of “replaceable batteries” concept which u mentioned in the “quick updates” post.

and finally, if the patents are ready, can u present a rough (no need to be professional) 1 min. video of UI (no need to show details, some glimpse).

It is not clear where the memory variants fit, since including those would account for 8 models, and everyone is talking about 4. I guess some selection is made among those 8, e.g. PQ screen (or 3G) only comes on 32GB models.

1) Can you give us any info about the keyboard UI e.g. swipe was a variant of existing touch keyboards? Any support for multi-language – Hindi, mandarin…. .

2) Are any accessories in the making?
3)Also, will we developers be able to access the important APIs to make our apps optimized to perform “run minimized with less resources” features or “goto sleep with only important functions running” and to quick wakeup? Or is that limited to apps that come from notion ink and partners alone i.e. native apps?

I can see use for your approach to multi-tasking.

Keep up the good work Rohan. Congrats on getting this far. And Good Luck!!

1. Is the Android OS upgradeable like MS Windows. So if you buy a device with Android 2.2 and in one year Android 3 comes in the market, can one upgrade or do a clean “install” of the next Android version?

2. Do we know if the 3G module is region specific or it supports most common frequencies all over the world?

i think everyone has thought of the same concept for multitasking windows phone 7 is doing the same with 5 tiles and you with 3 panels ,but yours is much better with infinite open apps WP7 can only do 5

Actually it’s completely different. Windows Phone 7 as far as I understand is the same as the iOS multi-tasking (actually some reports say it is even more limited). With those certain specific processes can run in the background. Individual programs can access those processes but no others. The other part of its multi-task is that any other process/app is “frozen” when you switch to another one and is then woken up when you switch back , thereby giving the IMPRESSION of multi-tasking. With Eden any program can be running in the background. Yes, part of the app is put to sleep when you switch to light-mode, but that’s only part of the app. Whatever aspects of the app that have been delegated to “light-mode” will keep running without being limited to a small specific set of services.

1. Indeed, Android is an upgradable OS, and version 3 (Which is already named Gingerbread) is already on its way. Regarding if the adam will be able to do the update is not yet clear; NI is making all the efforts to be compatible and exceed the min requirements for the next version (as stated in a previous post of this blog) but is not certain if we will have the option of an official update.

2. Unfortunately there are no official specs about the 3G technology that we will find in the adam yet, we will have to keep waiting for more info.

Hi!
I am really excited to get my hands on an adam ;-p.
its the closest product to what would be ideal for my purposes, although it seems to have some sort comings.
I am a scientist, what I want a tablet for that most devices are awful at are two things
1. PDFs and notes. most of what I read comes in a PDF format . often e-readers have to manipulate the text format in ways that end up weird to read because of their small size and poor software. but most importantly I would like to write notes on the paper as I am reading it and I feel more comfortable writing those notes with a pen , not an on screen keyboard. also often figures in these papers are in color (the pixel qi screen is perfect on this device to me primarily for that reason)

2. Writing notes , drawing and other things that I would put into my lab notebook while in the lab. I am basically going to try to use this device as my notepad, I would like to be able to scribble down a note or take a picture of something and write a note on the image, draw a table and input data etc.

basically these things that I want are dependent upon a stylus and I am wondering if such a thing is possible for this device and if it would be compatible with the direction you would like to take your product.

1) The answer to this is more complicated than it should be. Android is Open Source, so you can install any version of it anywhere you like, in principle. In practice, however, most devices are sold without root (administrator) access, so you actually can not upgrade/uninstall/reinstall the OS yourself. The upgrades are provided over-the-air, more or less regularly, by the manufacturers. Since the smartphone/tablet market is insanely dynamic these days, it can happen that after a while a device doesn’t satisfy the requirements for the newer version of Android, so it gets stuck with some older version (the same of course happens with PCs, but the timeline here is dramatically shorter). Or the manufacturers stop providing upgrades because they have better things to do than worry about ‘old’ phones (really dumb move in the longterm, since now people are reluctant to buy Android phones for the fear of being orphaned after a year or so).

Having said all this, most Android devices can actually be “rooted” (a hack that gives you administrator privileges), and then you can really install anything on them (there is a wonderful ‘hackers’ community out there – if you need a piece of software, chances are someone already wrote it ;)), but this requires a bit of dedication (and courage, since rooting carries certain risks ;)).

Not a very clear answer, I know, but that’s what the situation is: complicated. Unfortunately the Telecommunications situation in the US (which dictates the development of Android, even though the OS is obviously used throughout the world) is kind of ridiculous, in that the service providers have gained grotesque amount of power over hardware and software of the phones being produced. This is why root access is hampered (though it’s not the only reason). I sincerely hope we will not have the same situation with tablets.

We would love to see more about Genesis, the EAP and SDK. Also, will there be any sort of “acceptance” process to get an app into Genesis? While I do love the openness of the Android Marketplace, I absolutely hate the crap “quick buck” apps anyone with a keyboard can develop and launch, clogging the marketplace with fart apps and soundboards. There definitely needs to be some standards.

The UIs need to be beautiful and enhance what Notion Ink has provided for us. No more should Android apps be stereotyped as black windows with a static list or text box. I would be broken hearted if something like that came up in Genesis. They should be 10x as amazing as anything an iOS dev can come up with.

Also, we need tutorials, lectures, and tools like those that iOS devs have access to. I have never coded for an Apple device but the process seems so much easier than current Android development, however they have all a ton more information and help on the subject. Notion Ink is raising the bar with what Android can do. That should also extend to application development as well.

Super excited to get a hold of the SDK and the device! We here at Exodus Apps are committed to bringing the most amazing apps that we can to this device, we have already begun scrapping and redesigning the UIs that we had based on this post. Thank you for your hard work and dedication and proving everyone wrong in that you are not Vaporware. I personally have been waiting for this tablet ever since I first heard about it on Engadget (Rohan, you should contact them, they haven’t posted much about you for awhile). Congrats on your current progress and may the rest of your journey in developing Adam be successful.

Will it have support for Indian languages? I hope you are already aware of the great potential customer-base that you can have if ‘adam’ has support for the major Indian languages. You can tie-up with the major local newspapers(Eg:Navbharat times:Hindi, Maharashtra times:Marathi,Malyalam Manorama:Malyalam etc.) to act as an efficient intermediary to promote as well as sell ‘adam’, AND its contents – novels,magazines etc. – in their respective native languages to the final end-users.

You dreamt of creating something that would add value; I say this would be one hell of a value addition if we have our parents reading regional language novels on the ‘adam’. Think.

Oh, and yes, wishing a truck load of “Congratulations”..May the force be with you guys!

I’m amazed how everyone is complaining about the bezel / thickness of the device. Please, keep a realistic view in mind when analyzing Adam. I think the problem is mostly one of perception combined with expectation. Adam will most likely have the thickness that you see in the pictures and, as Rohan explained, there’s not much to compromise on when you include a full USB port. As for the bezel, I really don’t see it wider than the previous videos / posts; and you have to be able to hold it without touching the screen, anyway.
Yes, the iPad is thinner, yes it’s sexy, but it does not have all the functionality that we love in Adam; Apple had to make a compromise as well. All of us here want Adam to succeed, be the best, the coolest, better than iPad or anything else on the market. But we should also be able to see beyond our projections, and realize that this will be a great device, but not “magical”, just like the iPad is not magical. It will set a new standard of form+function for the industry at the current level, and will not leap 20-30 years into the future! It will not be the answer to all your problems, will not feed you, scratch your back or read your mind. It WILL however be the iPad and much more. So please, take a step back and look at Adam as a REAL device, not a mythical one if you don’t want to be disappointed. I am as excited as everyone else about Adam, but there are still many more steps that need to be taken for me to hold one in my hands:

1. clear the FCC successfully
2. have a good, touch-responsive screen
3. be well manufactured (very important, I don’t want it to open in half when a book sits on top of it, or the camera to fall off after I rotate it 100 times). At the projected price, $300-500, this is what worries me most…
4. be available with and without a carrier contract
5. have a decent customer service that can replace broken batteries/components, etc..
… and I could list a few more, but you get the picture. The market for Adam will be slightly different than that for iPad: it will sell mostly to “educated” costumers, and not to those that just want to own a tablet because it’s cool (many of these customers are already gone, and would still prefer Apple in the moths to come). I think proof for that is everyone here. Why we don’t own an iPad?

Really looking forward to this, i never bought into the apple hype cause their products suck big time. However they were the 1st ones with these new products and everyone jumped on it. I want the adam to be a quality tablet and i´m more than willing to pay good money for that, good luck you guys

i agree, we finally new a device one can work with, not just look neat (which the ipad does) and watch our cats play piano on. I dont need that shit, i´m not 15 anymore. So take your time and offer us a good product even if it costs a few bucks more…

I’m with Klang, I’m hoping for a quality product that is more than just an occasional entertainment piece. I will be happy to accept that a second model adam will follow with even more features and functionality, and don’t want to wait forever (ie expect to purchase this year!). Support is critical, I’m sure there will be some issues, just look at Apple, at least there fanboys know where to take a faulty device.
Keep up the effort, give us the device your showing us and you will no doubt build a fan base of loyal followers, probably more geek than fanboy poseur, probably more likely to use the device in science or education than at the mall to impress friends with some mildly amusing video.
Looking forward to the next post (and work on release dates!)

I am confused as to why Rohan continues to say things like “let me know if you have questions”, when those questions very rarely if ever get answered. There are still MANY questions that are getting asked over and over and over again, with no hint of an answer – and they are things that the Notion Ink team MUST know the answer to at this point. The promised forum has yet to materialize, and there is no “frequently asked questions” section of the blog that could offer vitally important information.

Yes, Rohan, we obviously have LOTS and LOTS of questions – would somebody there at Notion Ink PLEASE start answering them??? It doesn’t appear to do any good to post them here where you have asked for them? I don’t mean to sound demanding – I know you guys are busy – but as has been said numerous times before, this would be an excellent marketing tool and great additional publicity, especially for folks who are new to the ADAM and haven’t been following the blog for months – or even for those who HAVE, like myself.

I am still anxiously awaiting the arrival of ADAM, but I seriously doubt I will buy one right away. I will wait to read lots of user reviews first, because that MIGHT be the only way to get answers to all my questions at this point!

I guess the bezel is here to stay.
Maybe the idea was a thin/no bezel earlier – that’s what the renders on http://notionink.in tell – and why does one need a bezel when you have a grip to hold it like a book.

But it’s completely possible that the blueprints can’t be turned into reality. What you plan doesn’t always turn true. Maybe the bezels exist for a reason – that’s why all the tablets have them. Or else with so many millions being pumped into such products and so many minds working together in huge electronic giants – Samsung, Blackberry and others, why would everyone’s product look the same? You think there’d be one designer saying – All right! No bezel.
But maybe they serve some purpose (I am not an expert, if you haven’t guessed it already.) & Adam had to have it.

Secondly – It does look fat. And cheap and plastic-y too. Butt I attribute it entirely to the white borders. The black metallic render looks really neat and slick. Make a production model like that, click some photos and feed us, Rohan.

Can we just wait for better pictures before complaining about the bezel. I pulled it up and don’t see that much difference from the other mock ups. the color is throwing it off a little as the bezel color is the same as the sides. this is what is different as these where different colors in the Mock-ups. Rohan flew out sometime in the last 8 hours and said he would get better pics today or tomorrow. And maybe a Video :)

I agree pratrik i think it also looks much more “plasticky” than the renders. Really hope this is not the case and it is just the poor photo and the whit colour. Along with it being thicker and the larger bezel i am feeling a bit disappointed but hopefully the next pics will prove us wrong.

I maybe wrong but the FCC is only if it is going to be sold in the US. They can start manufacturing if they want to but can not sell in the US (with the radio equipment) until it passes the FCC and is cleared. so if there was an issue with the 3g they could sell the wireless only in the US and the 3g everywhere else. Also if they know they are using a standard radio (radios that have been used and passed the FCC in the past) they could go ahead and start manufacturing before being past. Only NI knows what the plans are

It features a very new concept of Multi-tasking which is going to be little different and controversial (soon we will know why)! Adam does multi-tasking in a way none ever has done. Gone are the days when we hold menu button for long to switch apps or windows! (I have a post dedicated on this in coming weeks);

While we can see the aspect of UI being ‘different’ from this post, how is the UI ‘_controversial_’? By any remote chance, were you indirectly referring to any patent infringements? Can you give more details to be more clear?

Exactly in that video the bezel is really thin down the sides? So therefore either the screen has been made smaller or the whole tablet is bigger no? As it is a pixel qi screen it is unlikely the dimensions of the actual screen have changed though.Maybe the tablet itself is slightly larger now. Oh well hopefully we will find out soon!

Answer 1 . Android OS is an open source project for smartphones, started at Google two years ago. Since Adam is a tablet the UI of Android OS has been scaled to meet the tablet screen size. Since NI is preparing to compete with other pads in the market, adam is expected to have an OS upgrade support, (which can be made available like Windows update), Rohan sravan can answer this . As pointed out by sunchicax we can hack the root to customize android OS at our own risk. In fact the Genesis* will add to help adam’s user support.
answer 2. Ask Rohan Sravan about the 3G propriety hardware that will be used in adam.

Doesn’t make sense to sell without FCC certification. If the FCC requires some changes, NI would wind up having to manufacture two sets of machines, one for US and one for everywhere else, plus there would be problems with people buying outside the US and importing them (not strictly NI’s problem, but they’ d get caught in the backwash). Plus other countries have their own certification requirements as well.

Rohan, here is part of your post, “…As I mentioned earlier I am leaving tomorrow night, so expect better images in couple of days. Here is what I have for today:….”. Where are the better images you promise (nothing cover in plastic).

Here is some info for those who are as concerned as I am about stylus support on the adam for creating hand written notes and drawings…

A couple weeks ago I wrote to Pixel Qi to find out if the screen being used in the adam can support both touch (finger) and stylus input. I received a reply from Mary Lou Jepsen, CEO and Founder of Pixel Qi. Here is what she said:

“We support both (in combination or separately) but can’t comment on Notion Ink’s plans. You will have to ask them.”

So at least we know it is possible for both touch (finger) and stylus input on the adam. Hopefully we will have confirmation and find out how well it works some time soon. Based on everything else we know about Notion Ink, I’ve got to imagine it will be at least as good as any other manufacturer’s implementation of a capacitive touch screen and stylus.

I like the idea of using 2/3 of the screen for a single app and the remaining 1/3 for something else, like your example of keeping an eye on the stock market. Or an IM client, maybe something like a sidebar with a few gadgets, or…

I wonder if the panel view is only used in landscape mode. I can’t imaging having three apps open in portrait mode.

Based on simply dividing the known screen resolution (1024 x 600) into thirds, landscape would yield three panels at 341 x 600. Portrait would yield three panels at 200 x 1024 which would be too narrow and tall to be very useful, right?

Are you for real? You must know by now that almost everything you buy these days is manufactured either in China, Taiwan or India (electronic or not). Just take a look at the label on your clothes or whatever manufactured article you posess for confirmation.

I feel no shame in admitting that last night I had a dream about the Adam. I had already read this (and every other) post you had made Rohan, so I feel that my dream was actually a pretty good representation of what the final UI will feel like, and I must say it was definitely one of the best dreams I had ever had. I cannot wait until the release day, I will be buying one shortly thereafter.

@Lita
Hold on for another 1-2 weeks, i think we will get all the answers. i have the feeling within the next 2 weeks, after rigorous testing and multiple-checks and cross checks, the specs (like hardware dimensions, UI capabilities etc) will be exactly finalized. once the specs are finalized for fcc testing, they can confidently answer in the forums.
regarding answers to some very basic questions, i think right now Rohan dont want to stretch himself to another place/forum, and only he (with some other senior people, and hence busy) has the complete picture of adam development and knows exactly how much info. to give away in forums. so he cannot let anybody else to answer nor can he allow some of us to start a blog, where then again due to incomplete info. he has to clarify each and everything. You can assume that if some info. is not given in Rohan s post, time has not arrived yet.

but you can post your specific queries, some kind guys like @Tarwinia, @mrzeal @billreyn @crystal @clay @atul and many others can answer it. and if i know it i will also try.

I think the perspective at which the photo was taken seems to make it look thicker than it actually is.

Take a close look at the image with the ports on the side showing. Notice how it appears thinner near the rear (close to the speaker) yet much thicker near the front.

The depth of field seems pretty narrow too, with the focus being somewhat sharper near the rear.

Anyway, my guess is it is a combination of the angle the photo was taken, the depth of field and focus point, the single color of this model (compared to other renders we have seen with the center being a different color than the bezel), and overall poor image quality all causing it to appear thicker than it really is. In other words, our eyes are playing tricks on us.

Rohan, please post some good quality photos (possibly with a ruler in the photo next to the adam). That help us to get a more accurate impression of its actual size.

Or… better yet. Just send me one right away and I will gladly measure it and confirm the size to everyone. ;-)

@Clay, I read some reviews on various capacitive stylus and that one for the HTC is the same as the one made by Dagi. The reviews I read indicate people prefer the stylus made by BoxWave and Targus (they are the same, and there is a third company that sells the same stylus under another name). Apparently the HTC or Dagi stylus have to be held at a particular angle to get it to work well; so that the tip is flat on the screen. Anyway, I thought I’d pass that info on.

I have also made a scale paper model (crude at best). I find the size of the unit to be very nice feel. I cant wait to get this when I can come up with money. I hope there will be student pricing as I am a computer science student and would like to use the tablet for taking notes and whatnot (my current laptop can be bulky sometimes when I have to carry all the books).

1. Do you think that we might be able to dual boot or flash boot ubuntu?
I ask this because no compiler has been made for android, I would love to see that
happen! I would hate to have to bring my laptop to compile when this could do it
in a much smaller box.(before you nay-say… classroom compiling is based on small
applications to teach ideas not super complex applications)

2. I would also love to see this get big enough for manufacturers to create accessories
for it. For instance:

Keyboard small enough to carry if one needs to type a little more then the
soft-keyboard will allow to be comfortable or fast enough(i.e. taking notes or
dictation in class)

Cases that are designed to protect the unit without destroying its great look.

3. I hope that legacy applications will be able to be stretched to full screen.
Android’s SDK with use of xml allows for regions to autofit a screen using relative
layout. This may be great for apps that make use of the relative layout to not
stretch images but just make working area larger, like the game Alchemy for
instance.

Your argument is totally flawed, you can buy total shit in India as well as in china or you can buy a product whose quality will amaze you for the rest of your life, depending on who is selling you the product.
So all i am saying is you cannot judge the quality of products of a whole country based on one product even if it is as good as Adam.
And I hope you know that, Adam would be made in either China or Taiwan.

Notion Ink has stated in prior post, their first market is the US market, that is what their investors want and that is what they are planning, so they could start manufucaturing for non-us market destinations, but they are not going to.

They have a business plan, they have laid it out in great detail, they are relentlessly marching toward their stated goals.

this post is great news that they are on track, they have the first test lot produced, they will have to test it first. then probably make a few tweaks to it. run another lot.

make sure it meets their requirements and make sure it will pass FCC certification first.
They certainly arn’t going to submit to the FCC before they are sure it will pass.

They have to already have the manufacturing facilities lined up. so when they get their final approval, they can then give the approval to start mass production. That won’t neccessary start immediately, as the factory is not likely just sitting idle waiting for a Notion Ink order. They will have to finish current runs and re-tool for the the Adam. It won’t take long, as that is what they do really well.

I know Clay you arn’t saying they wll produce non-US version, because it is clear they won’t, certainly not at the start. But for the rest, let the process continue, they are moving along really well now.

I just re-watched the technoholik video on youtube and noted that Rohan stated that the final hardware versions were 13 mm and one 11.6 ~ 11.8 mm (I assume Pixel Qi and LCD respectively). That’s even better than the 14 mm thickness I keep seeing referenced. Unless he is lying, and I believe he is telling the truth, then the photos must really be playing tricks on our eyes as I suggested…

Only restricting the market app from tablet devices but even then there is always sideloading(way of getting android market apps onto your device), Genesis, and online apps(including the future amazon android market). So as far as that restriction on apps goes it isn’t really that big of a deal.

Besides it is very likely we will get android 3.0 update which will open up the android market to tablets.

the stylus support is yet to be clarified, however going by Rohan’s post he hinted as much. So keep the fingers crossed.( IMHO it will be there, cause they are developing adam from a student’s perpective)

you can preorder when ready. (you can through Rohan’s previous posts where he clarified this).

the netbook unity will be good but there is still doubt whether the ARM distro will be less buggy. (and you wont realise adam’s full potential , at the same time lose out the unique UI experience of Eden).

According to ubuntu forums, unity is not yet primed for Tablet currently.(so dont keep your high hopes thinking the ubuntu experience on adam will be similar to a desktop one. Questions of drivers, keyboard, not all apps working, and NO SUPPORT form NI etc, etc)

personally I think once you get used to Eden, one would not feel like thinking of other OS. Come to think of it if we buy adam just to install other OS , NI and Rohan wont have the profits to support further adam development.

Lets not forget Rohan and company are banking on the ecosystem of Adam based on their Eden environment for the profits.(thats why they have subsidised/ lowered the upfront price of Adam a la iPad)

Lita, average mom, right? Yes, I do strongly agree every time you put your thought in this blog. Sure, there are 100s of questions these blog followers asked but, Rohan you hardly cleared the answer except only few. You (Rohan) also mentioned, you read all the messages written here. Please, pick up some of the most frequently asked questions and answer if not all. That will make us happier. We know you are busy but you also need to console the customers. We are the ones you are targeting to sell you adam, and we are the ones who will buy your product.

Thanks for your support, we will do our best to supply updates as often as possible or whenever something interesting happens. If you want to follow us on twitter @exodusapps, that is where we will publish the majority of our updates. Until the SDK is released however, its going to be pretty slow.

thanks for coming; we will request NI to increment the counter for the ‘prospective customers if so and so happens’ list; and since you told us we will also let some Indian companies know; but we have a give one get a dozen offer going on right now; how would you want the others sent out?

Yes, it’s me, the “average mom” – thanks for remembering! I read almost every post, including those written by @Tarwinia, @mrzeal @billreyn @crystal @clay @atul, but those guys/girls haven’t been able to help answer some of the FAQ on here either. I had high hopes when Rohan mentioned that the forum was in the last stages, but that seems like weeks ago. It’s even more frustrating when Rohan ASKS for questions, but then doesn’t answer ANY of them. Really, I would much rather he NOT ask!

Everytime a new tablet is either announced and/or released, I devour every piece of information I can find about it, and invariably I find something lacking and come back to the ADAM. I envision that I will end up with one at some point – I just don’t envision that I will be one of the first anymore – not ’til LOTS of questions get answered, preferably by users at this point since the answers aren’t forthcoming here. (And yes, I know we’ll get more information here over the coming weeks, but at this rate, it doesn’t feel like we will EVER get all the pertinent information posted on this blog/website!)

I downloaded the Longbox App for windows and it offers three zoom options “page” “panel” “free”. The free is just essentially a giant square magnifying glass which you move around. The frame one might allow one to do what you want (though it wouldn’t be just the dialog box). Also, it seems the frame one only works with properly programmed comics. Which is reasonable. Only thing about the Adam that I am going to hate is… I’ll most likely start spending more on comics and books again :S (Due to limited availability of what I tend to read in this city I normally opt just to do other stuff, this will make access and therefore purchase easy.)

Upon a closer look there seems to be a mail one with Gmail and Hotmail listed, a twitter app saying “Tweets”, a calculator app which you mentioned Esco, the settings page for mail, display settings, and an app menu.

Well, there is an ARM version of Ubuntu, though it also wouldn’t be optimized at the beginning and possibly missing drivers. It would depend on the open source/hacker community to get it fully working on the Adam if that’s the case.

Adding to their comments with the fact that I agree to the new setup and I am excited someone is finally what makes the most sense (not just opening another app store), but will the adam be able to put stock android on it? And How will it update along side of the stock android?

As an Android Developer, and project manager (whom would love to be in the beta when it happens), These are the first questions that pop up in my mind.

Thanks so much for your openness and truly brilliant design ideals,
2bit

agree with you, and I think Rohan &Co did a great job with the design. At this point however, it seems that everyone has a different image of ADAM and when the actual tablet comes out there’s bound to be some disappointment. I guess it comes naturally since everyone is so excited about it… I just don’t think one can expect long-life battery, large SSD, card reader, USB, HDMI output, AND a 5mm think device….

Oh cool! Pixel Qi will have 7″ 3qi display next year. I’m assuming this will be Notion Inks new project? Prime View, Qualcomm, and Liquavista are coming out with color epaper displays too to compete with Pixel Qi.

The hardware is excellent and what else is needed but an excelllent software to go with it! It is the creator’s right to produce nothing but excellence in hopes of competeing globally with both Apple products and the rest of them. I am sure Notion Ink is already planning an “Eve” to move onto.

Patience is a virtue, my friends.

Rohan, I also find my self irked to read tech blogs calling Adam vaporware. I will gladly help them remove that word from their vocabulary when they see my Adam (when I finally get one)!

F**k no. As awesome as the Adam looks, there is no guarantee that it is useful for education. It most likely will be, but I wouldn’t rely on it. For that matter, there’s no guarantee that any tablet will be good for school. I’m not a student, so I don’t desperately need it, but I would much rather wait for a properly-implemented Adam than

If you need help taking notes in class, check out the Livescribe Pulse. It’s far less intrusive into class than any tablet would be, but still excessively useful. (Hint hint, NI – an app that did something like this would be awesome.)

Playbook isn’t coming until 2011, Adam actually might be available before then. The Playbook might be a good device, it certainly has potential. It also has good RAM and cameras. But I am more interested in the Adam: the PixelQi, Price, Android, Ubuntu potential dual-boot, form factor (for long reading sessions the “handle” of the battery section seems perfect), and now Eden.

Ipad 2 (why the “G”?) might be good. But it’d be iOS (I end up getting frustrated with apple OSes as there is always only ONE way to do things and it might not be MY way). And it wouldn’t have PixelQi and there is absolutely no way to know what features Apple will deem worthy of the mass market.

Even with your statement there is a strong probability that the Adam will come out first. Longbox said they’d be releasing v1.2 of their software around the coming Holiday Season along with the Adam. This comes from a different company who is in a partnership with them. Meaning that 1: they are in a position to know, 2: they are less likely to lie or be “stringing along” readers as if the Adam doesn’t come out then the backlash would hit them too. So from all evidence available, according to your statement, you’ll be getting an Adam ;)

Deep deep down “NO” lets look
Blackberry out in 2011 with a new OS and I think by now they have 4 apps price unknown
iPad out now but missing many features it should have had and yes now Apple is trying to get another Pad out for Xmas (Rumor) Nice OS and a lot of apps price Starting 650 (w/3g)
adam out in November (waiting for confirmation) Good OS a lot of apps cutting edge technology. price 500 (w/3g)

So I have to say NO i don’t agree with you. If you need one now the iPad is it if you want cutting edge wait till November. If you completely unknown wait for RIM.
Oh yea and I forgot if you another completely over priced unit Samsung Tab

I guess ur right. But it is too long of a wait, and I need a machine right now.

hey guys I actually really want a tablet which can take notes using stylus and still has capacitative screen (except courier *sigh*). I want to take notes on pdf using my own handwriting and not on screen keyboard.

There is so much potential buyers for such a device, I hope Rohan u are reading this. Please make a stylus+capacitative Adam 2 for us students (who are being ignored).

@ Tarwinia
Totally agreed (about the variety of upcoming tablets). There is one thing that worries me about Longbox statements though: they also said that PixelQi supports color ePaper in 1080p (wtf?!). I hate it when blunders like that appear in official statements, my confidence that this person knows what they are talking about suddenly shrinks. I do hope that he was right about the Holidays launch. Fingers crossed.

Rohan, my man please get your PR right.
Either keep it all secretive – like Apple. Or if you are open, be really open.

Why can’t a moderator administrate the comments and reply to them? I agree that being the top guy you are too busy to do this petty stuff but then how difficult is it to have an in-house blogger/ blogging team?

Please get a social team – adam’s facebook page is dead; twitter profile is dead. This team or even a single guy must regularly update facebook and twitter. He must have all the product knowledge so he can blog regularly, reply to comments and other stuff.

Please don’t undermine social. You are a start-up and social can be your backbone.

PS: If you want I can do all this for you for free. Just ship me an ADAM for free when it launches. :D

Lets not forget NI has still not given us any product. They are STILL WORKING AT IT !!! We have to at-least wait till the time-frame they are talking about. I am sure they are reading into everything, but they may not be able answer everything or even most …

Lets not yet compare it with some new company-on-the-block, whose product we have bought and … and we are all relentlessly begging for some customer service :)

I guess they will do us a big service if they can answer many important questions .. but MORE THAT THAT they will do real quality service if they give 100% into the release of their maiden product…. cheers NI :) fingers crossed :)

If you have to have something to take notes, you don’t want the ipad, and your current laptop is to big, then learn to type and buy a netbook. that will solve all your problems, and you could have it this afternoon.

and quit your whinning, it will be out soon, if you can wait, then don’t

ok; this is getting a bit frustrating now as genuine contributors like you (relatively am more of a leech here) are being hypnotised by these bot like pest users who morph their vaporware comments one way or the other.

let me ask how much of the story a Hollywood producer would release before his/her movie actually hits a cinema near you? if a product from such a ‘public-facing’ industry as a motion picture is treated with such secrecy why shouldn’t NI exercise their rights to market their product as they wish.

yes Rohan is open about so many details about the product but that’s his choice and we just have to admire him for that. when this blog was stale a few months back we were all wishing any bits of info would be great; now when we have a good stream of bytes coming we are being so pushy about squeezing out more

please bear with me … I want to add one more point! when we buy a new car from ‘showroom’ there is a neat breakup of cost to customer … the most frustrating of all for me is ‘showroom and advertisement charges’ or something similar; am like ok the great privilege of being told about the product that prospective customers want to buy is funded by customers who actually buy the product.

I rather let NI/Rohan control his project/product and deliver it at a price I could afford rather than splash the specs across all media channels (tv/print/radio/web etc) and bump up the price by x% to cover the costs.

one may think how come one admin’s salary relate to Ad costs etc and the price of the product; well just ask any programme director in any industry what are the costs of misinformation or general communication risks management. Rohan is ‘the spokesperson’ right now; if he is not responding to a question I take it as ‘no comment’…. and we wont have more than 1 spokesperson for a political party or a Govt. agency or any other entity for the same reason.

and I doubt if they ever will open it to a Joe on the street… their business model does not let them do it either; curiously RIM is pursuing a very interesting model wherein they want to do everything themselves and hence control the full end-to-end life cycle of every bit that is created/consumed on their platform…which is the exact opposite of what Rohan mentioned in this blog about collaborative development/ knowledge networks etc.

Well said, advertising is not free, and if you had a bunch of advertising, and you created a huge demand, then you would have to be able to produce the product in qauntity that could meet that demand, or else you would really turn off a your prospective customers, as a new company you can do that, if you are Apple with a fan base that will buy anything you produce, you can afford to have unmet demand.

Notion Ink has already stated their production levels at startup, they want to be able to produce around 100,000/month. It appears that is what there funding is based on. Say the adam cost $250 to produce, then they need $25,000,000 USD a month to pay for production.

They very likely feel with the current level of advertising, ie this blog and word of month, plus a few well placed interviews, they can hit their sales targets, which will then give them capital to increase capacity and begin a broader scope advertising campaign.

They are a small startup with no other product, they are ramping up in a very smart way.

Will it be out for Thanksgiving? What is the RAM size? Can you update the website with more details (currently it has 3-4 pages with no details). Adding more content would probably pull in more people like me. Currently there are no promising Android tablets with 9″+ screen size and a good hardware combination. Adam seems to be promising on this factor. galaxy Tab may too small with its screen size for a good web/video experience.

Please Please add more content and tentative release dates. We have been guessing guessing all through this year. Too much guessing may take consumers to other alternatives.

Some of Rohan’s earlier blog posts are really inspirational. I sincerely hope Notion Ink does well. Also, looking at the boatloads of comments here, the upcoming forum would be exceptionally vibrant. @Clay, from your interest and activity here, it seems like you would be a good moderator :)

Rohan, this was part of your last statement “…Day after tomorrow (or tomorrow if possible), I will upload better images and more details. We have made 10 samples (for these post) with different color…”. Where are the images you spoke of and please no images of plastic covered units, thank you.

The iPhone is a great device with many uses and practical applications. Musicians in particular features of the iPhone is quite practical applications that can be used to make the music go. What follows is an ideal application for the iPhone for any musician, whether novice or just a curious career.

The iPhone iDrum drum machine players portable. There are a handful of different editions (hip-hop, rock club, and more) in the default application for new equipment to suit all musical tastes. iDrum turns iPhone into a step sequencer, where users can create different rhythms and join them in song. Musicians can change your shots on the fly and only $ 4.99 app is a valuable tool for users of the iPhone music.

There is as of now no word on RAM size(s). It is one of the few technical specs left unknown. As for tentative release dates we have been given November to January, depending on the FCC. Also Longbox Digital said their new software would come out with the Adam around the “coming Holiday Season” further supporting that time frame.

I dont believe that image was particularly about the Adam, as im sure none of the work on Adam came from the US. I believe that image was a representation of what countries usually do what work, and how Notion Ink has done all of that themselves(with partners) in India and China.

It could be because many new things tend to be followed with complaints. The new “multi-tasking” of iOS has received a lot of criticism (as well as Window Phone 7’s) because it is not “true multi-tasking” (which they really aren’t). Also many people might complain (be they developers or users), saying that they want their full apps running in the background, not a limited functionality version. Personally I like it as you can switch to full screen/full mode at any time without a hassle and there are very few instances where I might need a full app to run in the background.

All Android applications are written in Java. However you cannot run just any Java application unless you are able to run the Java Runtime Environment on the device, which IIRC you may be able to. But there are many other options to sync with your computer. Dropbox is my current favorite, however my app developing company, Exodus Apps, which is targeted at the Adam Tablet, may be coming out with another similar(though different) application soon after launch. Follow us on Twitter @ExodusApps to keep up to date when we get close to releasing our apps for Adam. If you click on my name you should be taken to our site aswell.

Hey hey hey. I plan to use the Adam to impress friends with video as well as for education (taking and giving classes) and productivity. Also with certain friends part of the showing off would be showing that not only can it do video but is great for book reading inside and outside :P

Notion Ink is not stringing along anyone. This blog is for the techies, its an inside look at a process thats usually behind the scenes. Rohan is doing us a favor by giving us this information. As mentioned in this post, its takes about a year to go from idea to final product. They are still pretty much within this timeline, they did have a bit of a hold up with funding along the way, but they are still as on track as they can be. What position do you have to be angry at him? People here aren’t interested in your impatience. I am in the same position as you, a student in need of a tablet.

Also, to Alex, I believe Adam is 100% guaranteed to be useful for education. That was one of Rohan’s main goals. At the same time though, it depends on the app developers to bring educational apps to Adam. I will be sure to have a team dedicated to bringing these apps to Adam as soon as our resources allow for it.

dropbox isn’t an option. It’s not encrypted. wuala is the only one, who encryptes before sending it. That is abolutly nessecairy if I want to sync something…
Another question: Can it be connected over ssh (with linux)? That would be greally great to, then syncing could be done over lan with sshfs and unison.

actually the question is will MS survive in the new world; last heard Steve was biting his nails awaiting market’s response to his pet (7) and trying to cook something with Adobe… Its pay back time now… anything MS does now will be too little too late… RIP

I totally agree with the adam being the tablet for techies. The iPad is the tablet for people that like shiney things and dont understand the beauty of the right mouse button (assuming they are also mac users). the windows 7 ones if they are ever made are not suited as the UI does not work well with touch, which leaves the andriod tabs which work well with touch have freedom and in the case of the adam also revolutionise the way that we multitask, work and interact with technology. truely the techies device in a system so well though out our simple apple loving friends can even use it!

now i am up with a lot of reading about NIA. Anyone, please, tell me whether i will be able to prepare powerpoint presentations on NIA? Being a college student powerpoint presentation making holds the first priority of all tasks.
Please reply

This is the kind of information that I’ve been waiting to hear. This is the kind of information that causes me to wait on my tablet purchase. I’m very excited for the Adam to release. It seems that it will be a success.

One question. Does the hardware include an active digitizer? I would think this is a necessity for a educational/notetaking centered device. Also, any notetaking type of software to be released for the Adam? Microsoft OneNote is a great piece of notetaking software that I think is necessary for any tablet device aimed at students. If you include something like OneNote with (or even without) an active digitizer, you will have a large advantage over the competition.

In one of rohan’s early posts he commented about the nature of the competitive developmental curve of new products. He mentioned the different players and how they would try to dominate not only by innovation but also but also by piratizing (unethical borrowing of any new ideas) AKA Microsoft, google, you name it. As he said there will be a lot of tablets ; Toshiba, Sony, MSF, Asus, Dell, HP, RIM, the list is endless and right now there is realyy only the Ipad and some knockoff’s. I decided, from his very 1st post that Rohan was the real deal. That here was some one with that intangible quality that made him seem real. I have not been dissapointed, it has been an exciting trip, exceptional. The ADAM is not just for techies, it’s too evolved to be nitched. It’s special because it will be so flexible, innovative, that even children will be able to use it.

I’ve been thinking about The Eden. Are you gonna enforce the 3 panels? Can’t we have up to a maximum of 3? I’m thinking of cases where I’ll only need two, and the extra space would be a blessing. For instance reading a pdf(panel 1) while jotting down dome notes (panel 2) or working out some equations (panel 1) while checking the expected result on a pdf (panel 2). In these situations, it would be an advantage if one of the panels was enlarged, for instance the one where I’d be taking notes (whenever a 3rd panel wasn’t needed, of course).

However, after reading Kim Komando’s
article (today) on the undependibility of
Android Apps, I must reconsider.

Apple requires all “their” Apps to “pass muster.”
Ie. they provide all App developers their
requirements and then screen all Apps submitted.
Plus they are the only legitimate gateway for
App installation

It would be wonderful if Google and/or a consortium
of Android-device producers would resolve this
issue. But unless (and until) something like this
is done, any and all iPad wannabes will “play
second fiddle.”

Anyway, I don’t think I would consider buying
any Android-based tablet unless such
protection/standardization is provided.

The Adam has its own App store, Genesis (As well as Google’s App market). Genesis, after reading the Developer Terms and Conditions, I believe will require all apps to pass a test by Notion Ink to be allowed into the Genesis App store.

Phew! I guess it’s a good thing the adam isn’t an Ipad wannabe! That would be a step down from where they have their sights aimed!

Have been using an android phone since the beginning of the year and haven’t found the apps “undependable”. Could you explain what you mean by that? Cause, I must say I think I smell a troll. And if it walks like a troll, talks like a troll, it’s probably a troll.

It really would be better to keep Apple propaganda out of this discussion. Your message in fact means nothing and this is not a proper place for a serious discussion (which, in fact, only makes sense with people who are familiar with Android and Apple, not with strangers).

Hi Rohan,
At the beginning of this year i had mailed you when i first got to know about an indian product. I had suggested that you guys could think of the tablet as a storage and streaming device when it comes to playing audio. So that you could actually provide a detachable music player device with the tablet. Tablet would stream the audio data over say BT & the smaller detachable music player (like an iPod shuffle) would play this data.

Now i read about Eve which is going to be a companion of Adam :) . I’m wondering if Eve is going to be just what im expecting :). Kill my curiosity!
regards
Raghav

Many thanks for taking this chance to speak about this, I feel strongly regarding it and I take advantage of studying this subject. If at all possible, when you gain data, please update this blog with new information. I have found it extremely useful.

Picking up a couple of lessons Rohan. Thanks for keeping the ‘open’ revolution going with your sharing.

Thanks for allowing us fans to keep you on your toes!! Yes, our standards are high – take our comments as such. It will put NI at peak, but bring it back down to terra firm to stay solid, then to raise it up again!

We promise to keep you on your toes! But we acknowledge your hard work, and will be spreading the gospel according to adam best we can..note- our listeners are cut off the same chip- they are demanding too!

In the previous post you mentioned, you can’t stand against us all…Of course you can. But you chose different. It is always about choice. You made a good one.